Not everything on this site is deep-sky stuff, occasionally I publish something interesting that’s associated with the photographic process.  This one has recently kept me occupied.  With deep-sky images we stack lots of sub-exposures to push up the signal to noise ratio in the final image.  But there’s other types of stacking we can do as well.  We can stack images of wildly different exposure (HDR) to get an image with a big dynamic range (this is also a technique used in deep-sky imaging) - and we can also take a set of images of the same scene with different set foci to get an image where all objects in the scene appear to be in focus.  This macrophotograph of the central region of an Orchid was taken in this way.  If you consider that the distance between the part of the flower nearest the camera, to the furthest part was in excess of 2 cm, you can see the amazing effect that focus stacking can have!

Great news yet again!!!  I managed to get an EPOD image published today.  Not a deep-sky offering this time but a hand-held 4-frame mosaic of a rainbow viewed to the East from the New Forest Observatory.  Thank you once again Jim for taking an interest in my work

Noel has just put the finishing touches on the latest acquisition from the New Forest Observatory.  This time it is the Crescent nebula region in Cygnus, and this represents just under 4-hours worth of H-alpha data, together with 2 and a half hours of one-shot (RGB) colour. (more…)

The beautiful face-on galaxy M33 in Triangulum is quite a challenge for the deep-sky imager.  For one, it’s low surface brightness is deceiving and it requires a lot more, lot longer subs than you might think.  Secondly - it is pretty big! (more…)

Noel has just processed the latest data taken using the Hyperstar III.  This time we have just under 3-hours total exposure time on the Cocoon nebula. (more…)

Well I managed to get out and try the kit even though earlier in the day I had a 4 and a half hour traffic nightmare coming back from the West Country - managed to hit the Bank Holiday traffic.  Never mind, got out with the AstroTrac TT320X, the Canon 40D and a 28-200 mm zoom lens. (more…)

Coming back from a short break in Devon I was pleased to find the tripod and accessories for the Astrotrac had arrived.  It was also good to find that all the threads were compatible with fixing the Astrotrac to the tripod and the Canon 40D to the ball-head fitting. (more…)

Noel has just processed this one taken a while ago at the NFO.  This is the open cluster M52 and lying nearby is the well-known emission nebula - the Bubble nebula.  You can see that the Bubble nebula sits within a vast region of emission nebulosity. (more…)

The Parker/Carboni deep-sky imaging machine has just produced another starry work of art for your enjoyment.  This time it is the famous Kemble’s Cascade asterism in that well-known constellation Camelopardalis. (more…)

The name says it all!  Noel has just processed this Sky 90/M25C image of the bright red carbon star “La Superba” which can be found in Canes Venatici at a distance of 711 light-years: (more…)